Draw 4 pencil lines that intersect the middle point of the card stock.

Either freehand or using a template, draw curved lines into the cone shapes.

Use Prismacolor Alcohol markers to add basic color to the segments.

Use alcohol and blending markers to blend in highlights.

Scan finished work to your computer.

Use Photoshop to:

Pump color up with Levels Adjustment Layer

Add additional highlights using Dodge Tool

Add additional shadows using Burn Tool

Take your picture and place yourself into the finished artwork

Create a shadow of yourself to make it look more realistic.

]]>Mon, 12 Feb 2018 08:00:00 GMThttp://graphcomm.weebly.com/home-page/project-1-zentangle-dayI will be attending an Educational Technology conference from Monday through Wednesday this week. While I'm out I have three different projects I'd like you to work on creating. Please post finished scans of your progress on these projects as they will be combined for a major project grade. It is your choice as to the order you wish to work on these. Please clean up after yourself and be sure to put caps on pens!

These are generally done on small cards using a pencil and fine point marker or pen. If you've done these before, you might want to challenge yourself by doing a zentangle animal like below:

Photography Project: This week we're going to change it up a bit and I'm going to give you three samples of work from an artist friend of mine, John Armstrong. I worked with John about thirty years ago and he's a very creative sculpture and photography artist. Usually I give you all kinds of how-to videos but this week I'm only supplying three photos John created. Use these as a basis for a project of your own creation. You will need to research surrealism and use Photoshop masks to compile these images together. Solve the problem through Google research and your own creativity. Everyone will post their finished project to their portfolio page by February 9th.

This week's Quizlet Challenge Prize: 18 x 24 Painting CanvasThe NOCTI written test is scheduled for early April and it's time to start upping our game to get ready. During the remainder of January and through February we're going to be running an in-class competition using Quizlet matching games.

Here are the week one rules:

Play at least five different Quizlet match games per week.

Do a screen capture (command-shift-4-drag selection) of each time score and email all of them to me (alt@cciu.org) by Friday, February 2nd.

For every five screen caps I get from each individual, they'll get one chance at winning an 18 x 24 painting canvas . There will be one prize for each AM & PM classes.

You can increase your chances by playing 10, 15 or 20 times (or more) per week. Don't get too carried away with this!

This is open to all Commercial Art students in our program - not just this year's NOCTI participants.

]]>Thu, 25 Jan 2018 13:03:27 GMThttp://graphcomm.weebly.com/home-page/lets-get-ready-for-nocti​​​The NOCTI written test is scheduled for early April and it's time to start upping our game to get ready. During the remainder of January and through February we're going to be running an in-class competition using Quizlet matching games. These can be found in the Knowledge Base drop down menu to the right of Home Page above. We'll be starting next Monday, January 29th.

Here are the week one rules:

Play at least five different Quizlet match games per week.

Do a screen capture (command-shift-4-drag selection) of each time score and email all of them to me (alt@cciu.org) by Friday, February 2nd.

For every five screen caps I get from each individual, they'll get one chance at winning a $10 WaWa gift card. There will be one prize for each AM & PM classes.

You can increase your chances by playing 10, 15 or 20 times (or more) per week. Don't get too carried away with this!

This is open to all Commercial Art students in our program - not just this year's NOCTI participants.

Yearbook Work: This week we need to begin taking photos in each of the CTE programs both AM and PM sessions. A sign-up sheet will be passed around and we need to schedule photo sessions with each instructor before we begin to take the pictures. Here are some guidelines for these images:

Try to get a mix between candid shots of people working in their programs and posed images of friends in their workspace.

These images will be used for the two page spread of each program. We will minimally need about eight or nine really good images from each session (AM & PM) for a total of 16-18 photos. Try to mix up the subjects in the photos.

Don't be afraid to fill your frame! Close ups are good!

Work in teams of two and be sure to stay out of these pictures when shooting.

Make sure that you give yourself time to move images to your computer after your session. We can't afford to lose images in this process and it's disruptive to the teachers if we need to redo these sessions.

Safety: We're going to be discussing SDS (Safety Data Sheets) and the laws about hazard communication. You should always be aware of the health implications of the solvents, paints and cleaning solutions that you're using where you work. We'll be working on filling in some missing sheets in our SDS binder for our lab. This site explains the Right to Know laws thoroughly.

Perspective Drawing: Our drawing project for this week focuses on adding the illusion of depth to our illustrations by using 1 point, 2 point and 3 point perspective. Watch the two videos below and research different options on YouTube for a project you wish to complete. These can be created using either traditional drawing tools or you can create these using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

​Photography & Photoshop or Premiere: Clone Yourself Project - in this project we will be using Adobe Photoshop, a camera, and a tripod to create an interesting collage that will look like you have cloned yourself. Please work with a partner to capture the images and then we will be using Photoshop masks to blend the images together.

If you've done this before or if you think you're up to the challenge-try doing this with video clips and use Adobe Premiere. This video will show you the basics in Photoshop:

]]>Tue, 19 Dec 2017 16:22:58 GMThttp://graphcomm.weebly.com/home-page/photo-process-for-yearbookSeveral students have expressed interest in taking pictures for this year's yearbook. I welcome your help with this task, but we need a step-by-step process for how we handle images for this year's book. The problem with digital cameras is that we can end up buried in images that are of varying quality. We're looking for great images - average will only work if we're in a bind.

Learn as much about the camera's shooting modes as you can by visiting the knowledge base area of this website!

Make sure that your camera is equipped with a fresh battery, a flash that you know how to control and permission from the instructor via a pass.

Shoot in Camera Raw - it gives us a lot more power in editing.

Limit your shoot to one program or area (gym, classroom, etc.) of the building.

When you're done shooting in that area return to class and move the images from the card to a computer.

Delete the images from the card so that the next person to use the camera doesn't have to.

Use Adobe Bridge to grade the images that you took. I usually only use 3-5 stars for my ratings.

Discard any out-of-focus images or poorly framed shots.

Copy the images to the Google Drive folder for the yearbook into the correct folder. You were all invited to this drive folder several weeks ago and should be able to access it through your students.cciu.org email address.

]]>Mon, 11 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMThttp://graphcomm.weebly.com/home-page/skills-usa-local-competitionToday we're going to be working on our local SkillsUSA competition. ALL TCHS students are members of Skills and all students will be participating in this competition. For seniors, this is great practice for the upcoming NOCTI exams and a potential avenue for getting money together for college. Competing in Skills is something that you'd want to place on your resume and feature in your portfolio.

To read the scope for this competition you can access the information two ways:

Made sure that you read the design spec carefully. It's a pretty simple task. Don't forget the Wizard of Oz lesson on hierarchy!]]>Mon, 11 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMThttp://graphcomm.weebly.com/home-page/weeks-15-16-objectives-projectsCompetencies this week:

507 - Demonstrate basic use of image editing software.

508 - Demonstrate intermediate use of image editing software.

801 - Operate digital camera and accessories.

802 - Compose a photograph through the lens.

803 - Demonstrate use of lighting.

804 - Demonstrate ability to physically stabilize camera.

805 - Demonstrate how to download and manipulate digital images.

​The next two weeks we are going to be working on two different projects. The first is a macro-photography/photoshop project we've never done before. I'm going to be asking you to team with a classmate and create a small staple city. Once created, you will need to set up a camera, a tripod or gorillapod and take some close up images of your creation.